“Slept with Fred.” A Trip to St. Croix.

September 6, 2023 by Monique Williams 1 Comment

I’ve recently embarked on a new journey in life, where I now live in Atlanta full-time. With that major change, came a new kind of responsibility. The responsibility of finding time to relax. This is where weekend trips come in.

A week ago, I took a quick weekend trip to the island of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. St. Croix is known as the history epicenter of the USVI, boasting of rich culture, hidden gems and some of the best food I’ve ever tasted.

The Arrival.

My journey to St. Croix started at 5:50 a.m. on a dreary Friday morning at Atlanta’s international airport. I worked the day before so there was a bit of grogginess while I dragged my suitcases around American Airlines’ departure kiosks. As I rustled my way through a surprisingly busy TSA line, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, my gate. A quick stop in Miami and then we embarked on our three hour flight to the beautiful island of St. Croix.

Usually I’m wide awake to be able to peek out of the window and brace for the beauty of the destination I’m visiting. Unfortunately, my landing experience consisted of a bump on a highway and a smack on the side of my head from the window, waking me up from a deep sleep. After trotting down the infamous airplane steps, feeling sweat trickle down the middle of my back and grabbing our bags from baggage claim, it was time to head to the west side of the island to check-in to our hotel.

The Fred Hotel

The Fred Hotel is a beachfront, adults only boutique hotel with 22 unique rooms. You can also find a spa, gift shop and one of the most unique bars I have ever seen.

As we arrived, we were greeted by the lovely J’lissa and staff of The Fred Hotel. We checked in, put our suitcases away and tried to catch ourselves in some A.C. from such a long day of traveling. Each hotel room is colorfully and uniquely designed with its own quirky style.

After taking showers to combat the crazy humidity, we dug into some “Chicken Shack” we picked up on the way to The Fred Hotel.

While I was mashing up that chicken and Johnny cake, I realized the sky begun to put on a bit of a show. So you know I ran downstairs to the bar to have front row seats to the best show on Earth.

Nothing could have prepared me for how amazing that sunset was. Even Danny (a bartender of the bar at The Fred Hotel) who works there almost every evening was completely blown away. Pictures and videos do no justice for what we witnessed that evening.

After watching the sunset, we headed out to enjoy a little bit of St. Croix’s nightlife and let me tell you, I had a TIME. (No pictures though 🤭)

Next Morning.

Sunlight carefully danced on my face as it filtered through the coconut tree leaves. Although I was a bit hungover, I remembered there was a very important task to be completed that morning. Crucian Breakfast. Now if you don’t know what that is, a Crucian Breakfast consists of smoked herring, saltfish, Johnny cake, fritters, some cucumber something, plantain, callaloo (or is spinach?) and a boiled egg. I immediately rolled out of bed and got ready to head to Frontline for 8:30 a.m.

We arrived so early that we were basically first in line. First bite in and I started stamping my feet on the car rental floor (my bad). Crucian people knew what they were doing when they created this.

The Afternoon

After devouring breakfast, we headed back to The Fred hotel and decided to chill by the pool all day. That decision was solidified after feeling sweat running down my back after a short walk from the car to the hotel room.

The focal point of the hotel is an intense war between the pool and the bar/ restaurant. The breeze and views of the ocean draws you towards the open air bar and restaurant. The invisible edge pool makes it so hard to resit just hopping in and cooling off. We spent a lot of time at these two spots.

After a late but quick bite to eat, we took a quick nap to refuel ourselves and to get ready for another night of fun.

Cultural Night.

Every last weekend of the month, The Fred Hotel puts on a cultural night showcasing local food, moko jumbies, fire dancing and more entertainment. Except in depth history lessons, showcases and flavorful Caribbean food.

As it got closer to 9:00 p.m., the crowd dwindled down until there was no one left but us. It was quite humid out, so we decided to take another dip in the pool. The Fred Hotel is very relaxed with the pool rules. You can swim in the pool at all hours of the night once you keep the noise down. We spent about an hour or two at the pool before we called it a night.

Beach Day.

The next day was dedicated to the beach and all things sea. The last time I went to the beach was all the way in May. If you know me, you know that is borderline torture so I had to spend some time in my favorite place on Earth! First we fueled up with Brunch from the hotel right on the porch of our hotel room then we begun our journey to beach Heaven.

This brings us to the end of my blog about my little trip to beautiful St. Croix. If you’d like to book your stay with The Fred Hotel, click the link right here. I highly recommend! From the friendly staff, tasty food and amazing views, you will enjoy your stay!

Also, if you’d like to watch the vlog version to this blog, check out the video below! Thank you so much for reading!